- We shouldn’t take Covid-19 lightly as it transmits faster
- Lockdowns we see globally one by one are not helping and will “kill” more business and consequently “people” than the virus itself
- Let us practice social distance discipline and good personal hygiene
Here is my background. I am from Germany and live in Singapore now half my life. For more than 4 decades in my lifetime – not counting the little kiddie time – I had anything between 1 and 4 times a year serious viral infections of my respiratory system per year and year on year, sometimes more sometimes less. So had all my peers back then in Germany and also in Singapore.
We learned early in life that social distancing is nice but it will not really protect you from getting infected. Of course, you DO NOT sneeze into the face of someone else. That is impolite, to say the least. But if you travel on a train, or you if play football match, or you simply sit in the super crowded bar, of course, you will catch some germs that can make you sick. No way to avoid this and part of humanity for which our body builds up over time a resistance almost no other living being on this planet is known for.
Only people that are seriously ill will try to stay away from other people: cancer treatment, organ transplant receivers, etc. and social distancing is a natural behavior known to mankind when you are not well anyway. I’m sure the old Romans told their peers to go away when they were sick too
I learned recently that one in ten people in Germany dies from pneumonia. And that goes on for centuries. You learn very soon in life what to do in order to stay healthy and to survive in such a hostile environment. Many people have written articles about this and if you google you will find billions of megabytes of data concerning this too. For me now this is the next step:
WHEN DO WE STOP THE PANIC???
Covid-19 is not a monster killer-bug (at least that’s what many experts say too) but for sure we also shouldn’t take it lightly as indeed it transmits very much faster and makes more people sick in a short time and we also don’t have a vaccine or any medication, plus most importantly and in addition, it is aggressive towards the elderly and people with underlying diseases.
Definitely the “normal” influenza has killed more people in the past 12 months than likely Covid-19 will ever do on a global scale. So, OUR problem is the “unknown” and how do we handle it and what can we and the media DO to make life as it was – of course with more precautions/hand sanitizers/face masks, etc. AND how can the media HELP to act responsibly so everybody stays healthy!
What happened in China is simple actually very simple, an outbreak happened – so be it and it did happen in other parts of the world many times before, so they followed the containment policy, by all means, test – identify – trace and contain / isolate, works in any pandemic… they (the Chinese) just weren't fast enough (!!) else nobody would even know it happened and we wouldn’t be where we are now being at the brink of an economic meltdown or as we say in German: a “GAU” standing for the largest possible calamity that can happen or is imaginable.
Last but not least and the lesson we learn from all this is that desperate times may call for desperate measures however all has to be in line with what’s really required and not more, especially not just because others do it
LET US PRACTICE GOOD PERSONAL HYGIENE
The lockdowns we see globally one by one are not helping and will “kill” more business and consequently “people” than the virus itself…. Let us all be clear and let us all practice good personal hygiene let us all be more responsible in what we are doing in our daily interactions and all will be well. The Indian greeting of “namaste” has become a synonym of “social distance” and certainly it helps as you don’t have to wash your hands every 5 min, especially when you are in a crowded place.
In Singapore and the media have already reported on this many times, we follow this containment policy almost religiously and even more effectively at an EARLY stage that's why Singapore was ranked #1 on Covid-19 cases outside China sometimes back in early February with 33 cases and now ranked #45 or so with only around 350 cases – of which 200 recovered now, and the rest hopefully on the way of recovery, whereas others are skyrocketing as seen.
It’s about discipline and acting responsible from day one, no need to panic, in Singapore government rules and controls, all are happy, I go cycling every morning, roads are good and empty.
We had in Singapore in the past 20 years all kinds of “disasters” like this one and just to mention were SARS, Swine Flu, H1N1, bird flu, etc. and In between the forest fires in Indonesia causing haze so thick that you couldn’t see the house next door. So, we are used to be resilient and also vigilant at any time. A good habit I must say because you don’t know what’s coming next.
And YES, social distancing also means using more digital means to communicate, this counts for private and professional areas
The bottom line and PLEASE accept it: we will ultimately all become someway infected with most viruses out there. Inclusive all types of coronaviruses. That is very normal. If we want to stay healthy act responsible and don’t forget to wash your hands with soap when possible.
And AGAIN please help to fight the hysteria!
